


Ace

by Zofiecfield



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexuality, Fluff, Gen, Hugs to all the ace humans and everyone who loves and accepts them, One Shot, Short One Shot, for Ace Week 2020, headcanon: Rachel Valdez is Asexual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zofiecfield/pseuds/Zofiecfield
Summary: Rachel comes out to Waverly as asexual, and Waverly responds with her own flavor of love.Ficlet for Ace Week 2020 <3
Relationships: Nicole Haught & Rachel Valdez (Wynonna Earp TV), Waverly Earp & Rachel Valdez, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp & Rachel Valdez
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99





	Ace

"So... tell me about this boy! What's his name? Dish!" Waverly twisted around to grin at Rachel.

Rachel blushed and shrunk back against the seat. "His name is Billy, and it's not like that."

"Please," Waverly chimed, winking at her, "I saw how you looked at him! And he’s clearly totally smitten with you! I know romance when I see it. He's super cute, and you're _super_ cute. Tell me everything!"

"Ha, really, it's not, I don't -" Rachel pushed out an empty laugh and stammered, physically shifting away from Waverly.

Nicole reached across the front seat and gently squeezed Waverly's knee. "Waves, leave her be."

"But," Waverly protested, still teetering on chipper, but starting to wilt, "I just..." She trailed off as Nicole met her eyes for a second and shook her head quickly.

Rachel rolled her eyes and groaned a little. “You don’t have to protect me, Aunt Mom.”

“Don’t call me Aunt Mom,” Nicole shot back. “And I’m not protecting you, I’m just-”

“Protecting me. Which is not allowed. You know the rules.” Nicole tried to protest, but Rachel plowed over her. “But you’re doing it in a sweet old lady queer mentor kind of way, so I’ll let it slide this once.”

“Old! Watch it,” Nicole warned, smiling as she tried to swat at Rachel without driving them off the road. Rachel stuck her tongue out and slipped out of reach.

Waverly watched the pair of them fondly, amused. As they settled down, the confusion resurfaced on her brow. “Rachel, I’m sorry if I said something inappropriate,” she started.

Rachel shook her head, crossing her legs up onto the seat. She took a deep breath.

“I’m ace,” she said, and seeing the flicker of a question cross Waverly’s face, clarified, “asexual. I don’t tell too many people, because people usually have really uncomfortable questions or give me weird looks. I go with _queer_ as kind of an umbrella term, and let them make their own faulty assumptions, which is okay enough, I guess, and is definitely better than the prying convos."

Rachel paused, hesitantly searching Waverly's face, but Waverly sat very still, her face open and encouraging, waiting. Rachel took another breath and continued, "And Aunt Mom here knows I’m not super comfortable with some of those typical teen attraction gossipy tropes, thus the hush hush just now. I've gotten that kind of pressure a lot over the years, and it usually makes me clam up and shy away from people I like, which sucks and makes approaching relationships even more intimidating. So, she’s trying to protect me.” On the last two words, she poked Nicole in the back of the neck, earning her another swipe.

“Rachel, thank you so much for sharing that with me,” Waverly said, reaching out to catch Rachel’s hand and give it a squeeze.

Rachel accepted the affection awkwardly, a smile sneaking onto her face. “I started figuring it out last year, but Nicole was the first person I tried to explain it to. And I don’t mind telling you. I wouldn’t have told you if I minded.”

Waverly beamed, a hand drifting up to her heart. A little shyly, Rachel continued, “Nicole told me the story of how you two met. It’d be cool to hear more about your coming out journey sometime, or you know, whatever.”

“Happily,” Waverly said softly. Then, she gasped and threw out her arms to grasp Nicole’s elbow and Rachel’s knee. “Oh my gods! We’re the Queer Musketeers!”

Rachel groaned a _no_ while Nicole laughed and laughed.

Later that afternoon, Rachel walked into the kitchen to find Waverly hunched over the table, armed with her laptop, a handful of magazines, and a stack of library books. She was muttering to herself, writing frantically on a large piece of butcher paper under all the chaos. In the corner of the paper, Waverly had drawn a small purple, grey, white, and black flag, bordered neatly with the word _asexuality_ and its definition.

Nicole was leaning against the sink, watching fondly. Spotting Rachel, she motioned for her to sneak back out. Rachel crept backwards to the doorway.

“Baby, I think this might be overkill,” Nicole said softly, startling Waverly out of her trance.

Waverly looked at her, bewildered. “I need to responsibly educate myself, Nicole! I want to be able to fully support Rachel.” She turned back to her materials, already slipping back into her head. Rachel heard her sing quietly to herself, over and over, “She’s ours now. Our little queer baby teen.”

Alarmed, Rachel caught Nicole’s eye, but Nicole shrugged at her, laughing. Nicole leaned forward and kissed Waverly’s forehead lightly, then returned to the dishes, humming the new queer baby teen song under her breath.

“But there is absolutely no representation in media,” Waverly exclaimed softly to herself, shaking her head as she scanned down a website. “And this is just inaccurate. And frankly, rude,” she huffed quietly, tearing out two pages from magazine.

“Hey.” A whisper in Rachel’s ear caused her to jump. Wynonna had appeared next to her in the doorway. “What’s happening here?”

“I have no idea. I told her I’m asexual today, and it seems to have broken her?”

“Asexual like an amoeba?” Wynonna asked, quirking a curious eyebrow.

“Asexual like a human who gives no shits about sexy,” Rachel countered.

“Neat,” said Wynonna with an approving shrug. “You be you.”

“Should we do something about her?” Rachel looked doubtfully towards Waverly, who was now standing on a rickety chair to hang a new piece of blank paper on the kitchen wall, a large roll of tape hanging around her elbow.

“Oh no,” Wynonna said, shaking her head seriously. “She’s in full research mode. It’s an expression of love, but it’s very dangerous.”

She pulled Rachel a bit farther out of the doorway, to guarantee they were out of Waverly’s eyeline. “She did this when I was pregnant. So many photos, so many diagrams.”

Wynonna closed her eyes at the memory, looking truly disturbed. She gripped Rachel’s shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Do you know what vaginal tearing is, Rachel? Don’t ever look it up. There are some things you can’t unsee.” With that, Wynonna walked away, still shivering with disgust.

Rachel laughed and turned back to the kitchen to find Nicole holding the ruler steady with one hand, the other arm wrapped around Waverly’s waist. Still standing on the chair, Waverly drew a long timeline across the paper on the wall, now labeled in flowy script, _Asexuality Through the Ages: a History_.

“Dorks,” Rachel muttered, as she slipped into the kitchen and sat down.

She spent the afternoon sketching on the edges of Waverly’s papers, interjecting occasionally, and feeling quite warm and welcome. Quite loved.


End file.
